Brooks Koepka, US Open Champion.

Brooks Koepka (born May 3, 1990) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.

Ranked inside the top 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking, he chose a different route than other young Americans to get mainstay status on the PGA Tour, by starting his career on the European Challenge Tour and eventually the European Tour.

He played collegiate golf at Florida State University.

Koepka claimed his first major championship by winning the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills.[1] [2]

Early years and amateur career

Koepka was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, and raised in Lake Worth, Florida. He attended Cardinal Newman High School. He played college golf at Florida State University, where he won three events and was a three-time All-American.[3] He qualified for the 2012 U.S. Open while still an amateur, but missed the cut.

Professional career

In the summer of 2012, Koepka turned professional and began playing on the Challenge Tour in Europe. He won his first title in September at the Challenge de Catalunya.[4] In 2013 he had his second victory on the Challenge Tour, winning the 2013 Montecchia Golf Open for [5] He followed this a month later with his third win, the Fred Olsen Challenge de España, where he set the tournament record, 260 (−24), and won by a record 10 strokes.[6] Three weeks later he had his third win of the year at the Scottish Hydro Challenge. With those three wins, he earned his European Tour card for the remainder of the 2013 season and for the full 2014 season.[7] The day after his third Challenge Tour win of 2013, Koepka qualified for the 2013 Open Championship. Koepka made his debut as a member of the European Tour (he played in three events prior to promotion to membership) at the Scottish Open, finishing T12.

In his first event of the 2014 PGA Tour, Koepka led after the second and third rounds of the Frys.com Open. He finished tied for third. At the U.S. Open, he collected a fourth-place finish, which earned him his PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season and his first Masters invitation. Later he ended 15th at the PGA Championship. He was nominated for the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award. On the 2014 European Tour, Koepka won the Turkish Airlines Open and finished third at the Dubai Desert Classic and Omega European Masters, and ninth at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He ranked 8th in the 2014 Race to Dubai rankings and was named the European Tour's Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.

On February 1, 2015, Koepka won his first PGA Tour event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open[8] and moved to 19th in the Official World Golf Ranking.[9]

In the summer of 2015, Koepka was pretty consistent and found himself in contention on multiple occasions. At the 2015 Open Championship, Koepka improved every day and a final round 68 vaulted him into a tie for 10th at the Old Course at St Andrews. The very next week, Koepka was tied for fourth after 54 holes at the RBC Canadian Open but a final round 74 pushed him down to a tie for 18th at the Glen Abbey Golf Course. He then tied for 6th at the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and tied for 5th at the 2015 PGA Championship.

In 2015, Koepka chose to give up his European Tour membership.[10]

In 2017, Koepka won his first major championship by claiming the U.S. Open (golf) title at Erin Hills.[11] Koepka's win tied him for the record of the lowest U.S. Open score at 16 under (tied with Rory McIlroy's 2011 record).[12]

Personal life

Koepka's brother Chase is also a professional golfer.

Koepka was recently in a relationship with professional soccer player Becky Edwards, but they broke up when Edwards returned to Sweden in 2017 to play professional soccer.[13]. At the 2017 U.S. Open it was announced that Koepka is dating actress Jena Sims.